v\ 


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SEMIKtt 


DR.  BOARDMAN'S  SERMON 


ON  THE 


BURLINGTON  CATASTROPHE. 


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GOD'S    PROVIDENCE    IN    ACCIDENTS. 


A     SERMON 


OCCASIONED  BY  THE  DEATHS  OF  THE 


REY.  JOHX  MARTIN  CONNELL,  MR.  JOHN  FIELD 
GILLESPIE,  AND  MRS.  SUSAN  GILLESPIE, 


Three  of  the  Victims  of  the  Railroad  Catastrophe  at  Burlington, 
New  Jersey,  on  the  29th  day  of  August,  1855. 


BY 

HENRY  A.  BOARDMAN,  D.  D. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

P  A  R  R  A"     AND     M  m  I  L  L  A  N 

1855. 


m 


PHILADELPHIA: 
T.  K.  AND  P.  G.  COLLINS,  PKINTERS. 


CORRESPONDENCE 


To  THE  Rev.  H.  A.  Boardman,  D.  D. 

Dear  Sir  :  We  respectfully  solicit  a  copy  of  your  appropriate 
and  instructive  sermon,  delivered  on  the  23d  inst.,  on  the  recent 
Burlington  railroad  disaster. 

We  believe  that  it  will  prove  a  useful,  though  mournful,  medium 
of  improvement  to  many  friends  and  relatives,  to  look  at  that 
mysterious  Providence  in  the  religious  aspect  in  which  you  so 
feelingly  presented  it. 

We  are,  dear  sir, 

Yours,  very  sincerely, 

William  Ferriday. 
David  P.  Williams. 
Bobert  Percy. 
Henry  L.  Bennett. 
John  C.  Ralston. 
Robert  S.  Ralston. 
Philadelphia,  September  24,  1855. 


Philadelphia,  September  25,  1855. 
Rev.  Dr.  Boardman. 

Dear  Sir:  We  beg  leave  to  express  to  you  our  high  apprecia- 
tion of  the  able  and  eloquent  discourse  upon  the  recent  fearful 
railroad  catastrophe,  pronounced  by  you  on  Sabl)ath  afternoon. 
To  us,  personally,  it  has  peculiar  interest  in  the  beautiful  and  truth- 
ful sketch  it  contains  of  the  life  and  character  of  our  lamented 


1= 


41394 


friend,  the  Rev.  J.  M.  Connell ;  and  to  the  community  at  large,  it 
has  great  interest  in  its  faithful  improvement  of  those  solemn 
lessons  which  the  event  is  calculated  to  teach,  alike  for  this  world 
and  for  the  world  to  come.  It  has  seemed  to  us  that  its  publica- 
tion will  be  useful  to  the  community ;  and,  for  ourselves,  we  shall 
rejoice  to  possess  in  more  durable  form  a  memorial  of  our  departed 
friend. 

If  it  be  consistent  with  your  feelings,  we  beg  you  to  favor  us 
with  the  manuscript  with  a  view  to  its  publication. 
We  are,  with  high  respect. 

Yours,  very  truly, 

Theo.  Cuyler. 

Wm.  M.  Clark. 

Geo.  H.  Hart. 

Steen  Bille. 

ToRBEN  Bille. 

Rich'd  S.  Smith. 


Philadelphia,  September  27,  1855. 

Gentlemen  :  As  the  near  relatives  and  very  intimate  friends  of 
those  whom  it  was  the  design  of  my  late  discourse  to  commemo- 
rate, I  am  gratified  to  know  that  this  humble  tribute  to  their 
memory  has  met  with  your  approval.  I  feel  that  the  manuscript 
properly  belongs  to  you,  and  herewith  place  it  in  your  hands. 

With  sincere  sympathy  in  your  affliction,  I  remain, 

Most  respectfully  and  truly. 

Your  friend  and  servant, 
HEXRY  A.  BOAR  DM  AN. 

Messrs.  William  Ferriday, 
David  P.  Williams, 
Theodore  Cuyler, 
William  M.  Clark, 

And  others. 


GOD^S  PEOYIDE^'CE  IN  ACCIDENTS. 


"HE  COMETU  FOKTII  LIKE  A  FLOWER,  AND  I?  CUT  DOWN:   HE  FLEETII  ALSO  AS 
A  .SHADOW,  AND  CONTINLETU  NOT."— Job  xir.  2. 


The  late  railroad  catastroplie  at  Burlington  was, 
for  two  weeks  after  it  occurred,  the  predominant  topic 
of  conversation  in  the  two  great  cities  immediately 
interested  in  that  thoroughfare,  and  the  theme  of 
indignant  and  elocfuent  censure  in  the  daily  journals. 
Beyond  this,  neither  community  has  seen  fit  to  go  in 
giving  expression  to  the  feelings  awalvcned  )»y  this 
melancholy  occurrence.  A  conllagration  which  lays 
a  few  squares  of  even  a  distant  town  or  city  in  ashes, 
very  proi>erly  summons  our  citizens  togetlier  in  gene- 
ral council,  to  manifest  their  sympathy  with  the  suf- 
ferers and  devise  measures  for  their  relief  The 
slauiiliter  of  more  than  a  score  of  our  friends  and 
fellow-citizens,  and  the  mutilating  of  some  sixty  or 
seventy  more,  in  our  very  neighborhood,  is  not 
deemed  an  object  of  sufhcient  moment  to  call  for  a 
public  meeting,  whether  to  sympathize  with  the  af- 
flicted, or  to  endeavor  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of 


similar  disasters.  Whatever  merit  may  attach  to 
our  vaunted  civilization  in  other  respects,  it  has  yet 
to  purge  itself  of  one  of  the  grossest  elements  of  bar- 
barism, an  insensibility  to  the  sacredness  of  human 
life. 

And  yet,  by  some  happy  inconsistency,  a  calamity 
like  this  is  certain  to  elicit  a  great  deal  of  sympathy. 
The  loss  of  a  gallant  steamer  a  few  months  since, 
with  its  precious  freight  of  human  beings,  was  felt 
for  the  moment  almost  as  a  national  affliction.  And 
this  railroad  accident  was  followed  by  a  general  out- 
burst of  sympathetic  feeling.  Tens  of  thousands 
read    the    harrowing'    details   with    emotions   which 


'O 


would  not  have  discredited  them,  had  their  own  rela^ 


tives  been  among  the  sufferers.  And  as  to  Burling- 
ton, no  eulogy  can  do  justice  to  the  hospitality  and 
kindness  of  its  inhabitants.  Every  door  was  thrown 
open,  and  every  house  ready  to  be  made  a  hospital. 
Nothing  was  neglected  which  the  best  medical  skill, 
faithful  nursing,  and  the  most  tender  and  assiduous 
attentions,  could  do,  to  relieve  the  wounded,  to  solace 
the  dying,  and  to  comfort  the  bereaved.  But  whe- 
ther this  is  to  be  all ;  whether  this  wholesale  destruc- 
tion of  human  life  is  to  pass  without  any  judicial 
investigation,  or  any  legislative  action  which  may 
reach  the  causes  of  these  catastrophes,  remains  to  be 
seen.  The  flagrant  and  criminal  neglect  with  which 
the  case  of  the  Arctic  was  treated  by  the  proper  legal 
authorities,  leaves  little  to  be  hoped  for  in  the  pre- 


sent  instance.  We  have  attained  the  bad  pre-emi- 
nence of  doing  less  to  protect  the  Uves  of  travellers 
against  incompetent  and  reckless  carriers,  than  any 
other  civilized  nation.  And  it  will  not  be  surprising 
if  the  vivid  impressions  produced  by  this  tragedy, 
should  be  as  evanescent  and  inoperative  as  those 
occasioned  by  the  numerous  bloody  and  mournful 
scenes  of  a  similar  character  which  have  preceded  it. 
But  our  concern  with  the  subject  to-day  is  of  a  dif- 
ferent kind.  We  have  come  up  to  the  sanctuary  to 
pay  an  humble  tribute  of  respect  to  the  memories  of 
some  of  the  victims  of  this  disaster.  Many  are  the 
social  circles  which  it  has  bereaved;  many  the  house- 
holds it  has  plunged  into  deep  and  poignant  sorrow. 
Each  of  these  twenty-four  persons  who  have  been 
hurried  into  eternity,  was  a  centre  of  love  and  ten- 
derness to  some  group  of  relatives.  There  were  fa- 
thers upon  whose  care  and  industry  large  families 
were  dependent  for  their  daily  bread;  wives  and  mo- 
thers, happy  in  the  wealth  of  conjugal  and  fiHal  love 
which  was  lavished  upon  them,  and  as  lavishly  reci- 
procated; daughters  reared  with  gentle  care,  and,  up 
to  that  fatal  moment,  sheltered  by  parental  fondness 
from  every  adverse  blast ;  young  men,  standing 
upon  the  threshhold  of  life,  just  equipped  for  its  con- 
flicts, and  eager  for  its  crowns ;  widows,  wlio  had 
already  drank  deep  of  the  cup  of  sorrow,  and  proved 
the  faithfulness  of  the  widow's  God ;  all  these  were 
commingled  in  this  fearful  slaughter;  and  not  one  of 


8 

them  was  stricken  down,  that  the  blow  did  not  fall 
with  a  cruel  severity  upon  a  large  circle  of  loving  and 
lacerated  hearts.  If  it  were  possible,  I  would  speak 
to  all  these  mourners,  and  bid  them  look  to  Him  who 
is  both  able  and  willing  to  comfort  them.  But  they 
have  their  own  sympathizing  pastors  and  Christian 
friends,  who  will  feel  a  sad  pleasure  in  ministering  to 
them  the  consolations  of  the  gospel,  and  invoking  for 
them  the  presence  and  support  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
the  only  effectual  Comforter. 

I  have  a  personal  duty  to  perform  as  a  pastor. 
Unused  to  preach  funeral  sermons,  and  deeming  the 
custom,  as  a  custom,  of  very  questionable  utility, 
there  are  occasions,  nevertheless,  which  it  would  be 
both  unfeeling  and  presumptuous  to  treat  with  silent 
indifference.  And  this  is  one  of  them.  The  be- 
reavement we  have  experienced  as  a  congregation, 
and  the  manner  of  it,  alike  demand  that  we  should 
open  our  ears  to  the  voice  of  this  providence,  and  try 
to  make  some  improvement  of  it.  Nor  need  I  speak 
of  a  single  loss.  That  husband  and  wife  whose  re- 
mains you  have,  with  many  tears,  laid  side  by  side 
within  the  shadow  of  this  sanctuary,  though  strangers 
to  most  of  you,  had  their  ties  of  fellowship  with  us, 
and  claim  the  tribute  of  our  remembrance. 

But  we  are  all  conscious  of  a  difficulty  here.  There 
has  been  so  much  of  man's  agency  in  bringing  about 
these  events,  that  we  are  prone  to  contemplate  them 
only  in  that  relation.     The  mind  fastens  with  an  in- 


stinctive  tenacity  upon  the  cupidity,  the  self-con- 
fidence, the  heedlessness,  which  precipitated  this  ill- 
fated  train  to  its  destruction;  and,  in  the  strong  emo- 
tions which  this  view  cannot  fail  to  excite  in  every 
disinterested  bosom,  we  are  liable  to  forget  that  there 
was  another  and  very  different  Agent  concerned  in 
it.  In  other  words,  there  are  two  distinct  and,  possi- 
bly, opposite  aspects  in  which  this,  and  every  instance 
of  violent  death  must  be  viewed;  its  aspect  GoD-ward, 
and  its  aspect  ???a?i-ward.  The  survey  of  it  in  either 
relation,  to  the  neglect  of  the  other,  must  lead  to 
false  and  hurtful  conclusions. 

Of  the  two,  the  former  aspect  is  much  the  more 
important.  It  is  one  of  the  fandamental  and  most 
precious  truths  of  Scripture,  that  the  providential 
government  of  God  comprehends  all  creatures  and  all 
events.  From  the  loftiest  archangel  before  the  throne 
to  the  invisible  animalcule  in  a  drop  of  water;  from 
the  extinction  of  a  sphere  to  the  fall  of  a  sparrow ; 
no  creature  but  owns  his  sovereignty;  no  event  but 
happens  by  his  command  or  through  his  permission. 
Lest  we  might  suppose  that  He  did  not  concern  him- 
self about  trivial  things.  He  has  distinctly  taught  us 
that  his  providence  extends  to  the  lilies  of  the  field, 
the  ravens,  the  quails,  the  locusts,  and  to  the  very 
hairs  of  our  heads.  Nor  is  His  word  less  explicit  in 
teaching  that  he  is  concerned  in  permitting,  limiting, 
and  overruling  the  reckless  and  the  sinful  actions  of 
men.     It  were  blasphemous   to  ascribe  to  him  any 


10 

efficiency  in  producing  these  actions;  but  to  withdraw 
them  from  his  rule,  would  be  an  impeachment  of  his 
supremacy  and  a  denial  of  his  moral  perfection. 
There  are  no  greater  crimes  recorded  in  the  history 
of  the  race  than  the  sin  of  our  first  parents,  and  the 
betrayal  and  crucifixion  of  our  Lord.  And  no  one, 
who  acknowledges  the  God  of  the  Bible  at  all,  will 
deny  that  the  introduction  of  moral  evil  into  the 
world,  and  the  providing  of  a  remedy  for  it,  were 
comprehended  in  the  Divine  plan  and  controlled  by 
his  all-wise  purposes. 

That  death  is  among  the  objects  of  his  providence, 
is  a  necessary  corollary  from  his  sovereignty.  It  is 
one  of  his  inalienable  prerogatives  to  create  life,  and 
he  alone  can  destroy  it.  ^'  Ikill ;  and  I  make  alive" 
Such  is  the  concatenation  of  events,  that  the  death 
of  an  obscure  individual,  or  of  an  infant,  at  a  differ- 
ent time  or  place  from  that  which  he  had  prescribed, 
might  disorganize  the  entire  scheme  of  terrestrial 
things,  and  even  spread  confusion  through  the  whole 
boundless  domain  of  his  administration.  "  Is  there 
not  an  appointed  time  to  man  upon  earth  ?"  "  See- 
ing his  days  are  determined,  the  number  of  his 
months  are  with  thee:  thou  hast  appointed  his 
bounds  that  he  cannot  pass."  "  Thou  turnest  man 
to  destruction,  and  sayest :  '  Return,  ye  children  of 


men.' " 


'•The  terra  of  life  is  limited, 
Nor  may  a  man  prolong  nor  shorten  it." 


11 

And  tliis  implies  that  the  mode,  and  all  the  attend- 
ing circumstances  of  death,  are  appointed  in  every 
instance.  We  may  no  more  exempt  one  class  of 
deaths  from  God's  control,  than  another.  The  sword, 
the  poison,  the  accident,  are  as  much  his  instruments 
as  the  paralysis  and  the  fever — the  battle  is  no  le^^s 
his  than  the  pestilence.  The  murder  of  Abel,  and 
the  tranquil  death  of  Jacob;  Joseph  dying  in  Egypt, 
and  Moses  in  Mount  Nebo;  Jonathan  slain  in  battk\ 
and  David  peacefully  expiring  in  the  bosom  of  his 
family ;  John  the  Baptist  beheaded,  and  Stephen 
stoned  to  death ;  all  have  a  common  place  in  the 
great  scheme  of  Providence. 

What  the  precise  agency  is  which  He  exerts  in 
employing  the  depraved  passions  of  men  to  execute 
his  will,  we  need  not  now  stop  to  inquire ;  the  subject, 
indeed,  is  one  which  we  can  but  imperfectly  compre- 
hend. Of  this  we  are  certain  ;  tliat.  while  the  ultimate 
results  are  his,  the  criminality  by  which  the}'  may  l)e 
brou^xbt  about,  attaches  exclusively  to  the  instru- 
ments — who,  it  must  be  remembered,  act  with  perfect 
freedom.  (Se^  Acts  ii.  22,  23.)  He  was  pleased  to 
permit  the  slaughter  of  the  chiklren  by  Herod,  the 
execution  of  the  apostle  James,  the  ten  early  per.^e- 
cutions,  the  butcheries  of  the  Duke  of  Alva,  and  of 
bloody  Mary,  the  horrible  judicial  murders  of  the 
Inquisition.  Among  the  victims  of  these  enormities 
were  some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  sincere  Christians. 
We  cannot  doubt  that  His  providence  was  as  truly 


12 

concerned  in  the  deaths  of  these  believers,  as  it  would 
have  been  had  thej  all  died  in  the  ordinary  course  of 
nature.  To  let  go  this  conviction,  is  to  dethrone  Je- 
hovah, and  to  cut  ourselves  off  from  the  only  adequate 
source  of  consolation  which  we  have  under  dispensa- 
tions of  this  sort.  The  church  sends  forth  her  mis- 
sionaries to  the  heathen,  and  presently  she  learns  that 
her  strong  men  have  met  a  cruel  and  bloody  death  at 
the  hands  of  the  very  tribes  they  went  to  instruct  and 
save — Lyman  and  Munson  in  Borneo,  AVilliams  at 
Feejee,  Lowrie  in  China.  Is  she  to  look  only  at  second 
causes  here  ?  If  she  does,  she  cannot  but  murmur  and 
rebel.  But  she  knows  that  God's  hand  is  in  these 
afflictive  events,  as  really  as  it  w^as  in  the  destruction 
of  Job's  property  and  children  by  the  hurricane,  and 
the  Sabeans  and  Chaldeans ;  and  she  bows  down  in 
reverential  awe,  and  cries  with  the  patriarch,  "  The 
Lord  gave,  and  the  Lord  hath  taken  away :  blessed  be 
the  name  of  the  Lord." 

Nothing  short  of  this  conviction  can  reconcile  us  to 
the  loss  of  relatives  and  friends  who  have  been  cut  off, 
whether  through  the  deliberate  malice,  or  the  culpable 
improvidence,  of  their  fellow-creatures.  There  is  nei- 
ther comfort  for  survivors,  nor  peace  for  the  dying, 
except  as  the  sentiment  can  be  brought  home  to  the 
heart,  that  death  is  under  the  implicit  and  exclusive 
control  of  our  Heavenly  Father;  and  that  it  is  just  as 
impossible  for  one  to  die  at  any  other  time,  or  in  any 
other  manner,  than  those  he  has  appointed,  as  it  is 


13 

for  a  creature  to  come  into  existence  without  any 
exertion  of  His  creative  energy.  It  is  a  reflection 
replete  with  peace  and  hope  to  the  child  of  God,  that 
all  his  interests,  even  to  the  minutest,  are  in  his  Fath- 
er's hands;  that  nothing  can  possibly  happen  to  him 
except  by  his  direction,  or  through  his  permission  ; 
that  his  life  will  be  just  as  long,  and  will  terminate 
just  in  that  way,  which  God  may  deem  to  be  for  the 
best;  and  that  all  he  has  to  do,  is  to  decide  questions 
of  duty  according  to  the  light  which  may  be  afforded 
him  at  the  time,  and  then  go  forward  with  the  humble 
assurance,  that  his  aflairs  will  be  ordered  in  infinite 
wisdom  and  mercy,  and  brought  to  those  results  which 
shall  most  conduce  to  the  Divine  glory,  and  to  his  own 
spiritual  good. 

It  is  not  given  him  to  foresee  future  events.  lie 
knows  not  which  of  the  vessels  that  lie  n,t  the  wharf 
are  to  cross  the  ocean  in  safety ;  but  after  due  exam- 
ination, he  commits  himself  to  one  of  them  with  the 
feeling,  that  if  it  be  the  will  of  God,  he  will  be  conve3'ed 
to  his  haven,  and  that  whatever  may  happen,  it  will 
be  just  what  an  all-wise  Providence  may  appoint.  He 
knows  nothing  of  the  fate  which  may  await  this  or 
that  railroad  train  ;  but  he  does  know  that  this  same 
universal  Providence  presides  over  every  road  and 
every  train,  and  over  all  its  implements  and  move- 
ments ;  that  if  disaster  come,  even  though  it  be  through 
human  recklessness,  it  must  come  by  his  permission; 
and  that  He  can  either  preserve  him  in  the  midst  of 


14 

peril,  or  prepare  him  for  whatever  may  await  him. 
I  do  not  say  that  a  Christian  man  will  ordinarily  be 
so  imbued  with  these  sentiments  as  to  have  no  cuixiety 
in  taking  his  seat  in  a  railroad  carriage,  or  to  be  in- 
different as  to  the  issue  of  his  journey.  Enlightened 
l)iety  is  not  of  this  romantic  character,  nor  does  it  so 
blunt  the  sensibilities  of  men.  But  I  do  say,  that  this 
feeling  of  God's  providential  control  over  all  the  agents 
and  all  the  contingencies  of  railway  travelling,  is  a 
real  sentiment  in  the  breast  of  every  true  Christian ; 
and  that  it  is  a  source  of  unspeakable  comfort,  both 
to  those  who  travel,  and  to  the  friends  they  leave  at 
home.  Nor  is  there  anything  else  which  can  inspire 
an  intelligent  composure  on  this  subject,  in  a  country 
where  this  mode  of  travelling  is  attended  with  the 
appalling  hazards  which  attach  to  it  here. 

These  views  link  the  fearful  destruction  of  life  on 
our  railways,  with  the  providence  of  God.  He  com- 
missions death  to  fulfil  his  work  in  an  endless  variety 
of  forms,  and  with  all  conceivable  circumstances  of 
tenderness  or  of  horror.  Earely  does  it  come  in  a 
form  more  terrible  than  this,  with  which  we  are 
becoming  so  familiar,  or  with  a  severity  more  indis- 
criminate. All  ages,  sexes,  and  conditions,  are  over- 
whelmed in  a  common  ruin.  Prepared  or  unprepared, 
the  humble  Christian  and  the  obdurate  unbeliever,  are 
handed  over  to  the  same  excruciating  tortures,  and 
the  same  speedy  or  lingering  death.  Happy  they  who 
are  found  with  oil  in  their  lamps,  when  the  sudden 


15 

and  startling  cry  breaks  upon  tliem :  "  Behold  the 
hndegroom  cometli :  go  ye  out  to  meet  Him  /" 

And  such  consolation  have  that  afflicted  family 
whose  bereavement  is  ours  also,  and  whose  sorrow  we 
would,  if  possible,  alleviate,  by  sharing  it  with  them. 

Among  the  passengers  by  the  train  of  the  29th  of 
August,  was  the  Eev.  John  Martin  Connell,  for 
several  years  past  a  member  of  this  congregation,  and 
one  of  our  constant  fellow-worshippers.  1  quote  the 
following  paragraph  respecting  his  birth  and  training, 
from  a  brief  obituary  notice  in  the  Presbyterian. 

"  He  was  the  only  child  of  John  Connell,  Esq.,  of  Tusculum,  near 
Wilmington,  Delaware,  and  the  grandson  of  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  Read, 
so  extensively  and  favorably  known  as  the  pastor  of  the  First  Pres- 
byterian Church  in  the  last  named  place.  Yery  early  in  life  the 
deceased  made  a  profession  of  religion,  which  he  ever  adorned  by 
a  life  consistent  with  its  requirements.  After  having  graduated  at 
the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  he  applied  himself  to  the  study  of 
theology,  and  on  completing  the  prescribed  course  in  the  Seminary 
at  Princeton,  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Presbytery  of  New 
Castle.  In  order  to  qualify  himself  more  perfectly  for  that  depart- 
ment of  usefulness  for  which  he  thought  himself  best  adapted,  he 
continued  his  studies  after  leaving  the  Seminary,  until  he  became  a 
very  finished  scholar  and  accomplished  writer.  He  devoted  par- 
ticular attention  to  moral  science,  and  such  were  his  attainments  in 
this  important  branch  of  learning,  that  his  name  with  those  of  others 
was  laid  before  the  Trustees  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  as  a 
candidate  for  the  chair  of  Moral  and  Intellectual  Philosophy  recently 
vacated  by  the  death  of  the  lamented  Professor  Reed,"  and  subse- 
quently by  the  resignation  of  Professor  Mercer. 

The  life'-of  a  retired  student  is  ordinarily  but  little 
diversified  by  incident;  and  this  concise  paragraph 
touches  upon  most  of  the  points  appertaining  to  Mr. 


16 

Connell's  professional  biography.  In  devoting  himself 
to  a  life  of  study  and  of  teaching,  he  was  swayed  by 
a  conviction,  that  this  was  "  the  department  of  useful- 
ness to  which  he  was  best  adapted."  It  was  from  no 
disparagement  of  the  pastoral  office,  no  want  of  zeal 
in  the  service  of  Christ,  no  love  of  ease  nor  secular 
ambition,  but  from  a  well-considered  sense  of  the  will 
of  Providence,  that  he  exchanged  for  the  time  the 
stated  functions  of  the  ministry,  for  a  cognate  sphere, 
separated  from  it  rather  by  an  imaginary  than  a  real 
boundary.  His  determination  received,  it  is  believed, 
the  unanimous  approval  of  his  friends ;  and  all  the 
more  so  when  they  found  that  his  Christian  character 
resisted  the  enervating  influence  so  inseparable  from 
literary  pursuits,  and  under  all  circumstances  retained 
its  freshness  and  purity. 

To  assist  you  in  forming  some  estimate  of  his 
worth,  I  avail  myself  of  a  letter  kindly  and  sponta- 
neously sent  me  a  day  or  two  since  by  one  of  his 
classmates  and  intimate  friends,  now  a  prominent  and 
influential  member  of  our  Bar. 

September  19,  1855. 
My  Dear  Sir: — I  am  informed  that  you  intend  preaching  a 
sermon  with  reference  to  the  recent  sad  raih-oad  catastrophe,  and 
in  it  purpose  to  notice  the  character  of  my  lamented  friend,  the 
Rev.  J.  Martin  Connell.  I  rejoice  greatly  to  hear  that  you  are 
about  paying  this  tribute  to  his  memory.  There  are  not  many  who 
could  appreciate  him.  Quietness  and  geutleness,  and  unaffected 
diffidence,  so  veiled  his  finer  gifts  of  mind  and  character  from  the 
common  view,  that  few  knew  his  worth,  and  fewer  still  his  rich  and 
varied  mental  endowments.    I  knew  him  with  close  intimacy  from  the 


17 

commencement  of  our  college  days,  to  the  hour  of  his  death,  and  I 
knew  him  always  as  a  modest,  faithful,  earnest  seeker  after  truth; 
and  to  this  he  steadily  devoted  a  mind  possessed  of  more  than 
usual  native  power,  excellently  trained  by  an  effective  discipline, 
and  richly  stored  with  varied  information. 

The  bent  of  his  mind  was  always  metaphysical,  and  I  deem  it 
high  evidence  of  its  healthiness  and  good  discipline,  that  extensive 
and  earnest  study  of  metaphysics,  especially  among  German 
writers,  had  left  him  with  added  strength  and  sincerity,  and  in  the 
fullest  sense,  an  orthodox  man. 

He  belonged  to  a  class  which  has  few  representatives  among  us; 
the  class  of  quiet  scholars,  of  men  content  to  labor  noiselessly,  and 
yet  faithfully,  loving  truth  for  its  own  sake,  and  finding  their 
reward  in  its  pursuit  and  acquisition ;  and  yet  not  forgetting 
"that  no  man  liveth  to  himself"  alone,  praying  and  waiting  pa- 
tiently for  such  opportunity  to  spread  the  truth,  as  God's  provi- 
dence might  open  to  him. 

Such  a  man,  of  course,  had  rare  gifts  for  usefulness ;  and  yet  he 
was  so  unobtrusive,  that  time,  and  long  time,  would  pass  before  his 
fitness  would  be  known  beyond  that  smaller  circle  of  closer  friend- 
ship and  intimacy  which  gathered  round  him.  He  died  just  as  lie 
was  beginning  to  be  known.  A  few  months  before  his  death,  he 
was  a  prominent  candidate  for  the  vacant  chair  of  Moral  Philo- 
sophy in  our  University.  Had  he  been  elected,  he  would  have 
filled  the  chair,  I  have  no  doubt,  with  more  than  ordinary  ability. 
He  was  laboring  too  with  his  pen,  and  a  little  time  would  in  this 
way  have  brought  him  into  notice.  A  mysterious  Providence  has 
cut  him  off  suddenly,  just  as  the  life  of  quiet  preparation  seemed 
about  to  close,  and  he  was  about  to  enter  full  armed  upon  a 
path  of  wider  usefulness.  His  death,  though  very  sudden,  found 
him  quite  prepared.  It  is  soothing  to  recollect  that  high  and 
earnest  Christian  hope,  long  ago  and  thoughtfully  embraced, 
which  filled  his  soul  with  peace  in  the  hour  of  sudden  death — 
away  from  home  and  friends,  and  surrounded  by  death  in  so  many 
painful  and  distressing  forms.  It  was  no  weak  or  doubting  trust 
that  sustained  him  in  that  solemn  hour  with  so  much  of  manliness 
and  heroism  of  heart ;  for  he  was  by  nature  more  than  usually 
timid  and  shrinking,  and  little  fitted  for  rude  struggles  or  the  ab- 
sence, in  time  of  trial,  of  the  gentler  sympathies  and  kinder  minis- 
tries of  home  and  friendship. 
2 


18 

I  cannot  help  thinking  there  is  much  in  his  life  and  character 
which  may  be  usefully  improved,  and  I  only  regret  that  the  pres- 
sure of  constant  duties  prevents  me  from  giving  you  more  fully,  as 
I  would  wish  to  do,  the  impression  close  intimacy  with  him  has 
left  upon  my  mind. 

With  much  respect,  I  am, 

Sincerely  yours. 

This  genial  and  discriminating  sketch  supersedes 
the  necessity  for  any  attempt  at  a  formal  portraiture 
of  Mr.  CoNNELL  on  my  part.  I  certainly  have  never 
known  a  man  of  greater  modesty,  or  of  greater  gen- 
tleness of  disposition.  And  yet  beneath  this  almost 
feminine  mildness  and  sweetness  of  character,  there 
was  an  acute  and  vigorous  intellect,  a  robust  scholar- 
ship, and  stores  of  learning  which  in  the  hands  of 
most  men  would  have  been  so  used  (and  I  will  not 
say  unfitly  used)  as  to  attract  to  their  possessor  the 
admiration  of  the  multitude.  He  shunned  the  noto- 
riety which  others  would  have  courted.  It  was  only 
in  communion  wdtli  a  very  few  chosen  friends,  that 
he  brought  out  his  treasures;  and  they  were  content 
to  listen  to  him  with  the  deference  which  men  pay  to 
an  acknowledged  superior,  and  the  warm  affection 
which  it  was  impossible  not  to  feel  towards  one  whose 
radiant  gifts  derived  their  highest  charm  from  the 
modest  guise  in  which  they  were  attired. 

In  this  way  it  has  come  to  pass  that  science  and 
religion  have  met  with  a  bereavement,  the  extent  of 
which  they  can  only  learn  now  after  the  blow  has 
fallen.     However  unprepared  we  may  be  for  the  an- 


19 

nouncement,  it  is  painfully  evident  that  a  shining 
light  has  gone  out  in  the  midst  of  us.  The  grave 
has  closed  not  only  on  an  humble  Christian,  but 
upon  an  accomplished  scholar  and  metaphysician, 
one  whose  pen,  had  he  been  spared,  might  perhaps 
have  instructed  the  world,  as  much  as  his  consistent 
example  edified  the  social  circle  in  which  he  moved. 

But  while  his  friends  dwell  with  a  mournful  plea- 
sure upon  his  gifts,  it  is  his  piety  which  affords  them 
comfort  in  this  season  of  trial.  This  was  sincere, 
uniform,  and  consistent.  He  was  singularl}''  candid 
and  ingenuous,  "an  Israelite  without  guile."  Few 
persons  of  either  sex  live  so  long,  without  contracting 
more  of  the  defilement  of  this  sin-stricken  Avorld.  It 
would  be  difficult  to  find  a  purer  mind  than  Mr. 
Connell's.  He  carried  his  religion  into  every  scheme 
and  habit  of  his  life.  Questions  of  duty  were  resolved 
by  the  only  true  standard.  He  seemed  never  to  for- 
get that  he  "  was  not  his  own  ;"  and  however  he  may 
have  shrunk  from  parading  his  endowments  before 
his  fellow-men,  he  wrote  upon  them,  "  Hulixess  to 
THE  Lord,"  and  laid  them  at  the  Saviour's  feet. 

The  letter  just  quoted  alludes  delicately  to  his 
dependence  upon  "  the  gentler  sympathies  and  kinder 
ministries  of  home  and  friendship."  I  fear  to  touch 
upon  this  subject,  lest  I  may  invade  the  sanctity  of 
the  fireside.  And  yet,  this  passing  tribute  to  his 
memory  would  lack  an  essential  feature,  should  I  fail 
to  speak  of  his  filial  piety.     There  are  occasional  in- 


20 

stances  in  which  the  bond  of  fiither  and  daughter, 
or  of  mother  and  son,  clothes  itself  with  a  strength 
and  a  tenderness  which  seem  scarcely  to  belong  to 
a  ruined  world  like  ours.  Such  a  bond,  if  I  mis- 
take not,  has  been  sundered  in  this  dispensation. 
How  tender  and  how  strong  it  was — how  fond  they 
were  of  each  other's  society — how  essential  to  each 
other's  happiness — it  is  not  for  me  to  say.  He  who 
created  these  ties,  knows  the  anguish  of  having  them 
severed,  and  He  alone  can  soothe  the  lacerated  hearts 
of  these  desolate  parents. 

"  Desolate,"  indeed,  they  must  be  ! 

A  solitary  light  irradiated  their  beautiful  home  : 
and  that  light  has  gone  out — nay,  not  "  fjone  out ;"  it 
has  been  suddenly  and  harshly  extinguished.  This 
son  was,  in  a  sense,  their  all.  And  so  endowed  was 
he  in  mind,  and  heart,  and  manners,  that  he  was  son 
and  daughter,  friend  and  companion,  confidant  and 
counsellor,  to  them.  The  tenderness  of  their  love 
towards  him  could  not  have  been  greater,  had  only 
five  years  instead  of  thirty-five  rolled  over  his  head ; 
and  yet  there  was  blended  with  this  intense  aflection, 
a  sentiment  of  reverence.  The  reverence  of  a  child 
for  a  parent  meets  us  in  every  well-ordered  family. 
The  reciprocal  sentiment  is  of  rarer  growth.  It  re- 
quires peculiar  wisdom  or  signal  goodness  in  the  cha- 
racter of  a  child,  to  elicit  it.  But  where  these  quali- 
ties happen  to  be  combined  in  the  same  person,  his 
parents  can  no  more  fail  to  reverence,  than  they  can 


21 

cease  to  love,  liini.  Thus  it  was  with  these  parents 
and  their  son.  They  reverenced  him,  because  they 
had  seen  his  intellectual  powers  gradually  maturing 
and  expanding  into  a  vigor  and  an  amplitude,  which 
commanded  their  homage.  And  they  reverenced  him 
still  more,  because  thev  could  never  see  him  without 
feeling  the  sweet,  mysterious  power  of  his  goodness, 
and  knowing  that,  of  a  truth,  the  Lord  was  with  him. 
Few  parents  have  such  a  son  to  lose:  none  can  have 
more  reason  to  feel,  on  resigning  a  beloved  child  into 
the  hands  of  God,  that  their  loss  is  his  eternal  gain. 
A  .simple  narrative  of  his  death  will  best  illustrate 
these  points. 

lie  left  his  home,  at  AYilmington,  on  Monday  the 
27th  of  August,  with  a  view  of  going  to  the  State  of 
New  York,  to  confer  with  the  principal  of  an  acade- 
mical institution  there.  His  excellent  mother  was 
pained  at  the  thought  of  his  going  so  far  away  to 
reside,  and  was  deeply  distressed  in  parting  with  him. 
This  made  such  an  impression  upon  his  affectionate 
temper,  that  he  spoke  of  it  to  a  friend  after  reaching 
the  city,  and  even  wrote  her  a  letter  replete  with  en- 
couragement and  consolation.  In  this  letter  he  begs 
his  ^^ precious  mother"  "  to  pra}',  and  strive  and  not  be 
cast  down."  He  quotes  the  cheering  promise,  "  They 
that  trust  in  the  Lord,  shall  be  as  Mount  Zion,  which 
cannot  be  removed,  but  abideth  forever;"  reminds 
her,  that  ''  God  requires  that  we  honor  Him  by  put- 
ting our  trust  in  Him ;"  and  prays  that  "  the  God  of 


22 

all  comfort,  may  comfort  her."  He  had  intended  to 
take  the  early  (7  o'clock)  line  of  Wednesday  for  New 
York.  But  changing  his  mind,  he  returned  to  Wil- 
mington, quite  unexpectedly  to  his  parents,  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  28th,  and  spent  the  night  at  home. 
This  brought  him  back  to  the  city  on  Wednesday 
morning,  just  in  time  to  take  the  ten  d clock  train. 

Of  what  ensued  after  the  accident  occurred,  an  ac- 
count is  given  by  a  respected  Methodist  Clergyman, 
at  Burlington,  in  a  letter  to  his  father. 

"It  is  of  the  calm,  peaceful,  and  triumphant  death  of  your  dear 
son,  that  I  will  write  you.  Of  this,  I  have  no  doubt,  you  feel  most 
deeply  interested  to  know,  and  this  alone  is  the  balm  to  heal  your 
wounded  and  sorrow-stricken  heart. 

"After  the  accident  occurred,  and  immediately  on  the  arrival  of 
the  car  containing  the  wounded  and  dead,  at  the  station-house  in 
this  city,  your  son  attracted  my  attention.  He  was  then  able  to 
sit  up  in  his  chair.  On  approaching  him  instantly,  and  inquiring 
of  him  with  regard  to  the  extent  of  his  injuries  and  suffering,  I 
found  him  perfectly  conscious,  calm,  and  in  remarkable  self-posses- 
sion. He  replied  to  my  inquiries  to  the  effect,  that  he  had  suffered 
greatly,  but  his  trust  was  in  God.  At  that  moment,  I  was  deeply 
impressed  and  affected  with  the  superhuman  character  of  his 
Christian  fortitude.  And  I  can  never  forget  the  calm,  placid,  and 
peaceful  expression  with  which  he  looked  around  and  surveyed  the 
terrible  scene  with  which  he  was  surrounded.  Never  did  he  in 
health,  I  presume,  sit  in  the  midst  of  his  friends,  and  in  circum- 
stances of  safety,  with  more  meekness  and  composure  than  he  sat 
there  ;  the  sufferer,  surrounded  with  the  suffering,  the  dying,  and 
the  dead.  And  never,  in  the  twenty-five  years  of  my  ministry, 
though  often  by  the  side  of  the  afflicted  and  dying,  have  I  seen  so 
beautiful  and  impressive  an  example  of  the  triumph  of  divine  grace 
over  the  pains  of  suffering  humanity. 

"  From  the  position  he  then  occupied,  he  was  soon  removed  to  a 
comfortable  mattress  in  an  airy  position,  in  the  broad  hall  of  the 


23 

residence  of  Mrs.  Gary,  near  by  the  station-house.  He  was  there 
surrounded  by  Christian  friends,  one  of  whom  was  an  aged  minister 
(Rev.  T.  Neal),  of  the  M.  E.  Church.  And  the  head  of  the  gentle, 
meek,  and  patient  sufferer,  reclined  in  the  arms  of  a  Christian  lady, 
an  estimable  member  of  the  same  church.  Then  it  soon  became 
evident  that  he  could  not  long  survive.  The  skill  of  the  surgeons, 
and  the  kind  offices  of  attending  friends,  could  not  retain  him.  God 
was  about  to  call  him  to  himself.  Of  this  great  truth  our  dear 
brother,  though  then  dying,  was  perfectly  conscious ;  nor  was  he 
in  the  least  alarmed,  but  freely  spoke  of  his  approaching  death, 
and  assured  his  weeping  Christian  friends  that  all  was  well.  He 
spoke  tenderly  and  with  deep  affection  of  his  dear  parents  ;  charged 
us  to  send  his  farewell  to  them,  and  assure  them  of  his  peace  of 
mind  in  the  trying  hour,  and  his  hope  of  meeting  them  in  Heaven. 
Thus  died  your  dear  son,  impressing  all  who  witnessed  his  latest 
hour,  with  the  great  truth  in  which  he  had  trusted  and  preached  to 
others,  the  sufficiency  of  the  Grace  of  God. 

"And  now,  my  dear  sir,  though  deeply  afflicted,  allow  me  to 
commend  you  to  the  care  of  that  Saviour  whom  your  son  loved, 
and  to  the  consolation  of  that  Gospel  which  your  son  preached, 
both  of  which  were  so  eminently  dear  to  him  when  heart  and  flesh 
were  failing." 

An  estimable  gentleman  of  Burlington,  belonging 
to  the  Society  of  Friends,  states,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend, 
that  while  lying  in  a  small  cabin,  previous  to  his  re- 
moval to  the  hotel  where  he  expired,  he  asked  a  lady, 
one  of  the  wounded,  whether  she  thought  his  hurt 
mortal.  She  replied  :  "  God  is  merciful."  "  Yes," 
said  he,  '•  and  I  think  (or  I  hope)  He  will  be  merciful 
to  such  a  sinner  as  I  am."  Afterwards,  he  was  heard 
to  say,  "  I  am  trying  to  put  my  trust  in  my  Saviour." 
An  old  gentleman  sitting  by  him,  remarked  :  "  He  is 
a  sure  trust;"  to  which  he  assented.  About  a  half 
hour  before  his  release,  he  said:  "Tell  my  friends  to 


24 

put  their  trust  in  the  Saviour.  Tell  them  not  to  dela^^ 
Tell  them  not  to  trifle."  Then  he  spoke  of  his  mother, 
calling  her  ^^  a  precious  jewel;''  and  sajing,  in  broken 
accents:  "Oh,  my  Motuer  !  my  precious  Mother!  tell 
her  I  have  hope — "  This  sentence  was  not  finished. 
Soon  after  he  bade  them  "  farewell,"  and  breathed  his 
last.  The  letter  proceeds :  "  His  pious,  cheerful,  calm 
confidence  in  his  faithful  Saviour,  as  the  only  name 
under  Heaven  by  which  we  must  be  saved,  deeply  im- 
pressed'the  spectators,  contrasted,  as  it  was,  with  the 
ravings  of  some  who  were  quite  unfurnished  for  the 
world  to  come,  and  a  portion  of  whom  were  far  less 
badly  hurt.  He  had  a  work  to  do  for  God  in  his  dying 
hours.  He  adorned  before  many  witnesses  the  doctrine 
of  God,  his  Saviour.  He  illustrated  the  blessedness  of 
being  found  watching.  I  trust  that  his  'precious 
mother,'  though  a  sword  has  pierced  her  soul,  can 
magnify  Him  who  blessed  her  with  such  a  son ;  who 
thus  put  honor  upon  him;  and,  in  his  prime,  took  him 
to  himself." 

Such  was  the  end  of  Martin  Connell.  Rarely  has 
so  gentle  a  spirit  ascended  to  Heaven  from  the  midst 
of  a  scene  of  such  confusion,  carnage,  and  bitter  an- 
guish. But  there  was  no  turmoil  idWiui.  He  "knew 
in  whom  he  had  believed ;"  and  his  hope  was  now  an 
anchor  to  his  soul.  Trusting  in  the  merits  of  his 
Saviour,  he  could  look  death  in  the  face,  though  com- 
ing in  this  appalling  form,  without  alarm.  The  ever- 
lasting arms  were  underneath  him,  and  he  fell  asleep 


25 

in  Jesus  as  calmly  and  peacefully  as  he  could  have 
done  had  he  been  lying  within  his  own  cherished 
home  and  soothed  by  those  fond  "ministries"  which 
had  been  the  solace  and  joy  of  his  life. 

Let  the  praise  be  given  where  it  is  due.  "  Thanks 
be  to  God  which  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ."  It  was  "through  the  blood  of 
the  Lamb"  he  achieved  this  victory.  His  abounding 
grace  wrought  in  him  with  such  triumphant  efficacy, 
that  he  was  brought  off  more  than  conqueror  over  the 
last  enemy.  Having  served  Him  in  life,  he  now  glori- 
fied God  in  his  death  ;  for  such  a  death,  as  an  attes- 
tation to  the  truth  and  value  of  the  Christian's  faith, 
is  worth  a  thousand  sermons.  The  throng  of  sympa- 
thizing friends  and  strangers  wdio  stood  around  him, 
and  watched  the  lamp  of  life  go  out,  felt  its  power. 
And,  Avhether  expressed  or  not,  it  was  doubtless  the 
feeling  even  of  the  most  thoughtless  among  them:  "A 
religion  which  produces  fruit  like  this,  must  be 
ivuie. 

But  there  are  others  who  claim  a  brief  memorial  at 
our  hands.  Among  the  passengers  in  this  doomed 
train  were  John  Field  Gillespie,  Esq.,  and  Mrs.  Susan 
Gillespie,  of  Mississippi.  Mr.  Gillespie  was  a  native 
of  Tennessee.  He  went,  while  a  young  man,  to  re- 
side in  Louisiana;  and,  being  there  during  the  war  of 
1812,  was  engaged,  as  a  member  of  a  volunteer  troop 
of  cavalry,  in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  He  subse- 
quently established  himself  in  Adams  County,  Missis- 


26 

sippi,  the  place  of  Mrs.  Gillespie's  nativity.  There 
they  had  lived  ever  since,  amidst  that  community  of 
opulent  planters  in  the  suburbs  of  Natchez,  who  are 
linked  by  so  many  commercial  and  domestic  ties  with 
almost  every  portion  of  the  Union.  Their  home  has 
often  been  described  to  me  as  a  spot  of  surpassing 
beauty,  where  fruits  and  flowers,  spreading  vines  and 
majestic  forest-trees,  shaded  walks  and  verdant  lawns, 
conspire  to  form  a  scene  of  Eden-like  grace  and  luxu- 
riance. Their  mansion  was  the  abode  of  true  con- 
jugal and  parental  affection.  Happy  in  the  society  of 
their  children,  and  children's  children,  and  surrounded 
by  their  large  family  circle,  nearly  all  of  whom  had 
estates  near  their  own;  there  was  far  more  in  their 
lot  than  fiills  to  the  share  of  most  persons,  to  make 
life  pleasant  and  desirable.  The  hospitalities  of  their 
house  were  dispensed  with  a  generous  hand.  Mr. 
Gillespie  not  only  enjoyed  the  respect  of  all  who  kne\V 
him  as  a  man  of  strict  integrity  and  honorable  feeling; 
but  the  soundness  of  his  judgment  and  the  kindness 
of  his  heart,  made  him  the  able  and  willing  counsellor 
of  the  perplexed  and  the  unfortunate.  Many  such 
have  experienced  the  benefit  of  his  judicious  advice; 
and  where  more  substantial  aid  was  needed,  they  were 
not  the  persons  to  say,  "  Depart  in  peace,  be  ye  warmed 
and  filled,"  without  '^ giving  the  things  which  were 
needful  to  the  bod3^" 

Little  could  they  have  imagined,  on  taking  leave  of 
that  beautiful  villa,  and  of  all  their  children  but  one, 


27 

that  it  was  to  be  a  final  adieu.  And  if  the  thought 
crossed  the  mind  of  a  single  relative  they  left  behind, 
that  some  sad  change  might  possibly  intervene  before 
they  met  again,  who  among  them  could  have  antici- 
pated that  neither  parent  was  to  return,  that  hoth  the 
heads  of  this  prosperous  and  happy  family  were  to 
meet  a  sudden  and  cruel  death.  "Man's  goings  are 
of  the  Lord;  how  can  a  man,  then,  understand  his 
own  way  ?"  They  came  to  the  North  on  their  own 
lawful  and  befitting  errand ;  but  God  had  His  pur- 
poses to  accomplish  also.  And  how  different  His 
ways  from  our  ways,  and  His  thoughts  from  our 
thoughts ! 

To  return  to  the  disaster  at  Burlington,  Mr.  Gilles- 
pie, like  so  many  others  of  the  passengers,  was  alarmed 
at  the  velocity  with  which  the  engineer  was  backing 
his  train.  He  said  to  his  wife,  with  evident  emotion : 
"  We  are  moving  at  a  fearful  rate— faster  than  ive  went 
forward.  What  can  he  the  matter  .?"='=  Feeling  a  slight 
jar,  they  instantly  rose  from  their  seat  to  make  for 
the  door,  and,  in  another  moment,  were  buried  be- 
neath the  ruins  of  the  train.     Of  the  scene  which  fol- 

*  It  will  not  be  deemed  amiss  to  add,  on  this  very  important 
point,  that  a  lovely  and  accomplished  woman,  who  is  among  the 
slain,' exclaimed  simultaneously  :  "  What  a  fearfully  rapid  rate  ice 
are  'going  atP  "  Fes,"  said  her  companion,  that  manly  youth 
whose  loss  so  many  hearts  deplore,  "  they  are  all  the  while  doing 
this  on  this  road,  and  one  of  these  days  there  will  be  some  terrible 
accident.''  The  words  were  scarcely  out  of  his  lips  before  the  crash 
came. 


28 

lowed,  one  of  the  New  York  papers  gave  this  graphic 
description  : — 

"  The  first  car  being  driven  backward,  the  second  was  thrown 
diagonally  across  the  track,  and  its  centre  literally  smashed  into 
atoms  by  the  concussion  with  the  third.  Both  of  these  cars  fell 
down  the  embankment,  a  height  of  about  seven  or  eight  feet.  There 
were  five  cars  torn  to  pieces.  A  more  complete  wreck  was  never 
witnessed.  One  of  the  cars  was  reduced  to  splinters ;  another  was 
cut  in  twain,  one  end  being  reversed,  and  the  other  end  in  an  up- 
right position,  frightfully  shattered.  The  other  cars  were  ripped 
from  one  end  to  the  other  and  beyond  repair.  Some  of  the  heavy 
iron  axles  were  twisted  into  a  bow.  The  heavy  T  rail  was  bent  in 
some  places  and  torn  from  its  fastenings,  the  inside  flanges  being 
cut  as  if  by  a  sharp  axe. 

"  The  scene  which  ensued  baffles  description.  The  cars  piled 
upon  each  other,  in  shattered  fragments,  from  beneath  which 
myriads  of  human  beings  were  crawling,  maimed,  broken,  and  reek- 
ing with  blood  like  perspiration  ;  the  shrieks,  groans,  nay,  abso- 
lute bowlings  of  the  wretched  beings  thus  entombed,  as  it  were,  in 
destruction — mangled  forms  of  men  and  women  huddled  together 
with  broken  panels,  bars  of  iron,  massive  wheels,  and  scattered 
baggage — all  combined  to  render  this  fearful  scene  even  more  ter- 
rible to  the  imagination.  One  of  the  passengers,  Mr.  George 
Ridgeway,  jumped  from  the  train,  and  the  next  instant  was  buried 
beneath  it  a  lifeless,  disfigured  mass.  Those  persons  who  came  to 
the  rescue  knew  not  where  to  begin  the  work  of  assistance  from  the 
urgent  calls  which  arose  on  every  side.  The  unhurt  and  the  least 
injured  were  crawling  up  the  banks,  many  of  them  being  able  to 
walk  to  the  houses  in  the  neighborhood,  where  they  prayed  for  a 
glass  of  water — their  sufferings  being  fearfully  aggravated  by  thirst. 
On  every  side  could  be  heard  the  sobs  and  wailings  of  those  who 
had  just  recognized  a  dear  friend  or  relative  among  the  mangled 
and  conglomerate  mass.  Wives  for  their  husbands,  husbands  for 
their  wives,  parents  for  their  children,  all  joined  in  swelling  this 
vast  aggregate  of  agony  and  horror." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gillespie,  when  extricated  from  the 
wreck,  were  found  to  be  in  a  dreadfully  mangled  and 


29 

bloody  condition,  with  serious  internal  as  well  as  ex- 
ternal injuries.  A  merciful  Providence  so  ordered 
events,  that  the  house  to  which  they  were  conveyed, 
was  that  of  a  highly  respectable  Quaker  lady,*  in  the 
full  import  of  the  phrase,  a  good  Samaritan.  Here 
they  were  laid  in  separate  rooms,  the  two  parlors 
being  given  up  to  them.  A  large  group  of  attached 
relatives  were  presently  gathered  around  them ;  and 
nothing  was  omitted  which  the  tenderest  affection 
and  the  best  professional  skill  could  suggest,  to  avert 
a  fatal  result.  But  God  had  otherwise  decreed.  Mr. 
Gillespie  had  a  limb  amputated  on  Thursday,  the 
day  after  the  accident;  and  Mrs.  Gillespie  one  on 
Friday ;  and  the  fortitude  with  which  they  each  bore 
this  painful  operation,  astonished  even  their  expe- 
rienced surgeons.  His  sufferings  were  intense;  and 
he  survived  only  till  2  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of 
Saturday.  They  had  no  opportunity  of  seeing  each 
other  after  reaching  the  house,  nor  was  she  apprised 
of  his  decease  until  the  morning  after  it  occurred. 
For  two  weeks  longer,  she  lay  stretched  upon  her  bed 
of  suffering,  patiently  awaiting  the  will  of  her  Hea- 
venly Father.  There  was  no  murmuring;  no  repining. 
She  had  for  many  years  avouched  the  Lord  Jehovah 
to  be  her  God,  and  committed  herself  to  Jesus  Christ 
as  her  Saviour :  and  she  was  not  forsaken  in  this  her 
hour  ©f  trial.     Her  prevalent  feeling  throughout,  was 

*  Mrs.  Margaret  Smith. 


30 

a  deep  and  humbling  sense  of  her  own  unworthiness, 
blended  with  adoring  gratitude  for  the  Divine  good- 
ness. On  the  very  day  after  the  amputation,  she 
seemed  scarcely  able,  as  I  conversed  with  her,  to  find 
words  to  express  her  views  of  "  the  mercy  of  God  to 
such  a  sinner,"  as  she  felt  herself  to  be.  For  a  while, 
her  vigorous  constitution  maintained  the  unequal 
struggle  with  her  complicated  injuries;  and  her 
friends  were  more  than  once  cheered  with  the  hope 
of  her  recovery.  But  nature  was  at  last  exhausted, 
and,  on  Friday,  the  14th  inst.,  she  was  released  from 
her  sufferings. 

Thus  have  this  husband  and  wife  gone  down  to 
the  grave.  Long  had  they  shared  together  the  du- 
ties, the  trials,  and  the  enjoyments  of  conjugal  life. 
It  was  a  union  founded  on  mutual  esteem,  cemented 
by  experience,  and  nurtured  by  all  those  grave  re- 
sponsibilities and  tender  sympathies,  which  cluster 
around  a  large  and  attached  household  as  the  chil- 
dren grow  up  to  maturity.  In  our  wisdom,  it  might 
seem  better,  if  this  happy  connection  must  be  termi- 
nated, that  one  or  the  other  of  the  parents  should  have 
been  spared.  But  the  moment  we  venture  upon  this 
ground,  we  must  be  overwhelmed  with  unbelieving 
doubts  and  misgivings.  There  is  very  much  about  a 
disaster  like  this,  which  mocks  our  wisdom.  Why  it 
should  have  been  permitted  at  all;  why  so  many  pre- 
cious lives  should  be  sacrificed ;  why  some  of  those 
who  have  perished,  and  who  occupied  spheres  of  pe- 


'61 

culiar  importance,  should  not  have  been  restrained 
from  going  at  that  time;  why  the  dying  must  submit 
to  this  dreadful  baptism  of  blood,  and  be  hurried 
away  w4th  so  little  time  for  preparation ;  questions 
such  as  these  force  themselves  upon  us  and  clamor 
for  an  answer.  But  who  are  we  that  we  should  pre- 
sume to  explore  the  secret  purposes  of  the  Deity,  or 
resolve  the  mystery  of  his  Providence  ?  Are  these 
things  more  inexplicable  than  the  sin  of  Adam,  the 
death  of  Abel,  the  flood,  the  long  delay  of  the  advent, 
the  violent  deaths  of  the  Apostles,  the  limited  diffu- 
sion of  Christianity,  and,  in  general,  the  sufferings 
and  sorrows  of  the  righteous?  God's  providential 
government  of  the  world  is  an  unfathomable  abyss  to 
our  poor  measuring-lines.  To  insist  that  everything 
shall  be  made  plain  to  us  now,  is  to  insult  Jehovah, 
and  to  invoke  upon  our  souls  the  curse  of  judicial 
blindness. 

"  Man's  science  is  the  culture  of  his  heart  ; 
And  not  to  lose  his  plummet  in  the  depths 
Of  Nature,  or  the  more  profound  of  God  : — 
Either  to  know,  is  an  attempt  that  sets 
The  wisest  on  a  level  with  the  fool." 

There  is  a  very  different  point  of  view,  already  in- 
dicated, from  which  these  calamities  must  be  contem- 
plated, if  we  would  be  reconciled  to  them.  The 
Psalmist  understood  it :  "I  was  dumb ;  I  opened  not 
my  mouth;  because  Tlwu  dicVst  it"  Here  there  is 
comfort,  even  for  these  sorrowing  households.     Let 


32 

tliem   take   hold   upon   His   universal,  all-pervading 
Providence,  and  be  at  rest. 

They  need  not,  however,  pause  here.  They  have 
yet  better  consolation.  That  faith  in  Jesus  Christ 
which  carried  these  humble  Christians  in  triumph 
through  this  scene  of  horrors,  will  no  less  sustain  you 
under  the  burden  of  your  great  sorrow. 

"Heaven  gives  us  friends  to  bless  the  present  scene  ; 
Resumes  them  to  prepare  us  for  the  next." 

Perad venture,  this  blow  may  have  been  sent  in 
mercy,  to  bring  you  nearer  to  the  cross,  and  to  fasten 
your  thoughts  and  hopes  more  firmly  upon  the  things 
which  are  unseen  and  eternal.  There  you  will  find 
true  peace  and  comfort.  "  In  the  world  ye  shall  have 
tribulation :  but  be  of  good  cheer ;  I  have  overcome 
the  world."  This  is  the  Saviour's  language.  Trust 
in  Him,  and  he  will  teach  you  that  most  difficult  of 
all  lessons,  entire  resignation  to  the  will  of  God.  He 
will  enable  you  to  say,  as  He  was  strengthened  to  say, 
in  circumstances  of  unutterable  anguish,  far  trans- 
cending any,  even  the  severest,  trials  he  ever  lays 
upon  his  people,  "  Father,  not  as  I  will,  but  as  Thou 
WILT  !" 

A  distinguished  statesman'-"  connected  with  Mr. 
Connell,  in  writing  to  a  member  of  the  family  on  the 
subject  of  his  death,  observes,  "Re  is  in  the  land  of 
the  livinrj  ;  it  is  you  and  I  who  are  in  the  land  of  the 

*  The  Hon.  Henry  A.  Wise. 


83 

dying.  Such  a  death  is  almost  a  ^translation' — it  is 
so  sudden,  so  swift,  with  so  little  suffering,  so  direct 
to  heaven,  that  it  is  almost  Elijah-like." — Certainly, 
the  prophet  could  not  have  watched  the  approach  of 
his  chariot  of  fire  with  more  serenity  than  this  man 
of  God  looked  forward  to  his  departure.  Others  there 
were  among  that  company  of  sufferers,  who,  as  we  are 
told,  met  death  with  similar  composure.  Here  is  a 
great  lesson  for  the  living.  It  is  recorded  of  Addison, 
that,  finding  himself  dying,  he  sent  for  his  stepson. 
Lord  Warwick,  whose  licentious  habits  he  had  long 
striven  to  reform,  and  said  to  him,  "  I  have  sent  for 
you  that  you  may  see  how  a  Christian  can  die !"  Look 
at  this  spectacle,  and  "see  how  a  Christian  can  die." 
"  Here  is  the  patience  of  the  saints  :  here  are  they  that 
keep  the  commandments  of  God  and  the  faith  of  Jesus. 
Blessed  are  the  dead  which  die  in  the  Lord." 

Sooner  or  later  we  must  all  encounter  the  last 
enemy.  And  whatever  a  proud  philosophy  or  a  self- 
righteous  morality  may  suggest,  if  we  would  share 
in  the  triumph  of  these  believers,  it  must  be  achieved 
with  the  same  weapons.  Men  may  die  calmly  under 
the  influence  of  pride,  of  stupidity,  of  natural  forti- 
tude, of  their  own  imaginary  goodness.  But  there 
are  two  things  which  distinguish  the  experience  of 
the  dying  Christian  from  that  of  all  such  examples 
as  these,  to  wit :  his  views  of  God,  and  his  views  of 
himself  The  Deity,  as  he  contemplates  Him,  is  a 
Beino"  not  only  of  infinite  goodness,  but  of  inflexible 


34 

justice  and  immaculate  Jioliness,  whose  very  nature 
binds  him  to  abhor  and  punish  all  sin :  and  as  to 
himself,  he  is  deeply  sensible  of  his  own  depravity  and 
vileness.  If  these  impressions  are  according  to  truth — 
if  God  be  this  holy  and  just  Being,  and  man  this 
depraved  and  sinful  creature — then  two  things  fol- 
low. Every  experience  which  lacks  these  convic- 
tions, must  be  illusive ;  and  there  can  be  no  intelli- 
gent and  rational  peace  in  death,  except  that  which 
flows  from  trust  in  an  atonement  which  has  expiated 
sin  and  satisfied  the  requisitions  of  Divine  justice. 
This  foundation  the  Christian  has.  In  Jesus  Christ, 
he  "  beholds  the  Lamb  of  God  which  taketh  away  the 
sin  of  the  world ;"  the  Saviour,  whose  death  "  de- 
stroyed him  that  had  the  power  of  death,"  and 
removed  every  obstruction  to  the  full,  free,  and  ever- 
lasting pardon  of  the  penitent  sinner.  While  bowed 
down,  therefore,  under  his  conscious  ill-desert,  and 
filled  with  contrition  as  he  reviews  his  life,  he  cannot 
despair ;  for  Christ  has  died.  Trusting  in  His  blood, 
he  can  anticipate  death  with  composure,  possibly  with 
rapture,  because  he  knows  that  its  sting  has  been 
taken  away,  and  that  it  comes  as  a  messenger  of 
mercy  to  conduct  him  to  the  skies. 

Here  is  the  secret  of  that  heavenly  tranquillity 
which  lighted  up  the  countenances  of  these  Christians, 
even  when  overtaken  by  so  sudden  and  so  horrible  a 
death.  We  claim  for  it  that  it  is  a  rational  peace, 
the  only  rational  peace,  as  contrasted  with  the  com- 


35 

posure  which  flows  from  any  and  all  other  sources. 
And  we  exhort  you,  by  all  the  affecting  considera- 
tions suggested  by  this  dreadful  calamity,  to  seek  for- 
giveness and  salvation,  as  they  did,  through  the  blood 
of  the  cross.  Then,  will  you  also  be  prepared  to  die 
the  death  of  the  righteous,  and  your  last  end  will  be 
like  his. 


NOTE. 


In  the  foregoing  discourse,  the  late  catastrophe  lias  been 
coutemiilated  only  in  its  religious  aspect.  Here,  if  it  were 
compatible  with  my  sense  of  duty,  I  would  gladly  leave  the 
subject.  But  something  more  is  due,  both  to  the  dead  and 
to  the  living ;  and  in  appending  to  the  sermon,  as  it  goes  to 
the  press,  a  few  observations  on  the  other  aspect  of  this  oc- 
currence, its  relations  wa/i-ward,  I  cannot  feel  that  I  am 
violating  any  of  the  proprieties  of  my  office  as  a  Christian 
minister — I  certainly  am  but  exercising  the  common  right  of 
a  citizen. 

To  repeat  a  remark  already  made,  human  life  is  a  sacred 
thing.  There  is  no  event  in  this  world  so  solemn  as  the 
death  of  a  human  being;  no  responsibility  so  fearful  as  that 
of  causing  such  an  event.  Practically,  and  in  its  connection 
with  accidents  by  travel,  our  countrymen  do  not  believe  this. 
Eailroad  and  steamboat  companies,  and  their  agents,  treat  it 
as  a  fantasy.  Our  legislatures  and  courts  are  asleep  on  the 
subject.  Even  the  periodical  press  awakes  to  it  only  by 
paroxysms,  when  one  of  these  terrific  slaughters  startles  and 
appals  the  public  conscience.  Let  every  friend  of  humanity, 
then,  however  humble,  exert  his  influence  as  occasion  serves, 
to  suppress  this  great,  demoralizing  evil — the  needless  and 
wicked  destruction  of  life  upon  our  thoroughfares. 

When  I  stand  by  this  scene  of  devastation,  at  Burlington, 
and  see  nearly  one  hundred  of  my  fellow-creatures  dragged 
out  of  the  ruins  of  a  railway  train,  mangled  or  already  dead; 
when  I  enter  a  neighboring  house  and  see  prostrate  there 
the  noble  form  of  a  friend,  lately  radiant  with  manly  beauty, 

3* 


38 

and  embellislied  with  tlie  graces  wliicli  win  their  way  at  once 
to  every  heart,  now  mutilated,  agonizing,  dying;  when  I 
turn  from  the  harrowing  spectacle,  and  enter  the  mansion  of 
another  friend,  and  find  him  bemoaning  with  fruitless  tears, 
the  prop  which  sustained,  and  the  light  which  cheered  him, 
in  his  old  age ;  when  I  pass  from  one  dwelling  to  another, 
and  find,  in  different  cities  and  villages,  scores  of  families 
bowed  down  with  a  deep  and  bitter  sorrow ;  when  I  do 
this,  and  ask,  "  Wherefore  is  all  this  suffering,  and  sadness, 
and  death  ?"  If  the  answer  be,  "  God  has  done  it !"  my  lips 
are  sealed.  "  Shall  not  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  do  right  ?'' 
But  when  the  answer  comes  back  to  me,  as  it  may  with  perfect 
truth,  in  respect  to  this  same  series  of  events,  "J/awhas  done 
it !"  then  I  know  of  no  principle  of  religion,  nor  of  any  ob- 
ligation of  citizenship,  which  binds  me  passively  to  acquiesce 
in  it,  and  to  say,  "  It  is  well !" 

In  the  case  actually  before  us,  I  certainly  cannot  say,  "  It 
is  well."  In  so  far  as  man's  agency  is  concerned,  there  is 
very  much  in  it  to  censure.  It  is  this  consideration  which 
must  make  it  so  difficult  for  these  bereaved  households  to 
feel  resigned  to  their  affliction.  In  ordinary  cases,  when  our 
friends  die,  we  have  the  consolation  of  knowing  that  it  could 
not  have  been  prevented.  If  they  were  removed  by  disease, 
it  was  after  everything  practicable  had  been  done  to  restore 
them.  If  by  a  storm  at  sea,  how  could  they  withstand  the 
elements?  If  by  an  accident,  no  blame- worthiness,  perhaps, 
could  attach  either  to  themselves  or  others.  But  there  is  no 
such  comfort  here.  This  disaster  might,  and  should  have 
been  avoided.  It  was  a  perfectly  gratuitous  and  unnecessary 
sacrifice  of  life,  a  holocaust  to  improvidence,  recklessness, 
and  cupidity. 

The  ultimate  responsibility  of  it  rests  with  the  State  of 
New  Jersey,  which  has  sold  the  exclusive  right  of  carrying 
passengers  by  railroad,  between  the  two  great  cities  of  the 
Union,  without  requiring  of  the  other  party  to  the  compact, 
any  sufficient  provision  for  the  safety  of  their  passengers. 
The  responsibility  of  the  "  Comimntf  has  been  settled  by  the 


39 

public  voice,  with,  a  unanimity  and  a  solemnity  not  likely  to 
be  disturbed  by  any  future  discussions.  Nearly  all  the  seri- 
ous disasters  on  this  road  have  been  occasioned  by  the  want 
of  a  double  track.  The  demand  for  this  further  accommoda- 
tion is  as  reasonable  as  it  is  urgent.  It  is  sealed  with  the 
blood  of  numerous  victims.  Why  is  it  not  conceded,  or  else 
the  door  thrown  open  to  other  parties  who  will  give  us  and 
our  families  this  indispensable  protection  in  passing  over  this 
great  avenue  of  travel  ?  Must  we  wait  for  it  until  the  pro- 
prietors have  covered  the  State  with  a  network  of  tributary 
roads?  Have  not  lives  enough  been  immolated  to  this 
Moloch  ?  Are  families  and  churches  to  be  shrouded  in 
mourning  every  few  months,  because  a  corporation,  to  whose 
custody  we  are  all  comj)eUed  to  intrust  ourselves  whenever 
we  visit  the  ISTorthern  States,  prefers  its  own  gains  to  our 
safety  ? 

No  one  pretends  that  the  construction  of  a  second  track 
would  preclude  all  accidents.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  no 
one  has  yet  been  imbecile  enough  to  deny  that  it  would  very 
largely  abridge  the  liability  to  disaster.  The  mercenary 
policy  which  refuses  so  needful  a  safeguard  on  this  national 
thoroughfare,  is  disreputable  to  the  commonwealth  which 
tolerates  it,  and  unjust  to  the  citizens  of  other  States,  who 
are  obliged  to  traverse  her  territory. 

The  animus  which  pervades  the  entire  administration  of 
this  opulent  and  powerful  monopoly,  may  be  seen  with  noon- 
day clearness  in  the  ofiicial  "  Report  "  of  the  Directors  of 
the  Company,  on  the  recent  accident.  The  gentlemen  whose 
names  are  appended  to  this  paper,  are,  several  of  them,  my 
personal  acquaintances — I  hope  I  may  say,  my  personal 
friends;  and  they  are,  as  a  body,  known  in  society  as  high- 
minded  and  honorable  men — exemplary,  not  only  as  citizens, 
but  as  husbands  and  fathers.  And  yet  these  gentlemen  have 
affixfed  their  signatures  to  as  heartless  a  document  as  ever 
emanated  even  from  a  railroad  corporation.  One  of  their 
trains  has  killed  twenty-four  persons,  and  wounded  some 
sixty   or   seventy   others.      And   while   hundreds,   perhaps 


40 

thousands  of  hearts  are  still  bleeding  under  tlie  anguish  of 
this  terrible  slaughter,  they  put  forth  a  paper,  in  which  they 
not  only  undertake  to  vindicate  the  every  act  of  every  one 
of  their  officials  concerned  in  this  tragedy,  but  scrupulously 
abstain  from  the  use  of  any  phrase  or  syllable  which  might 
be  interpreted  into  an  expression  of  sorrow  for  the  dead,  or 
of  sympathy  for  the  mourners !  Even  allowing,  what  few 
have  denied,  that  a  culpable  degree  of  carelessness  attached 
to  the  driver  of  the  carriage^  this  is  no  justification  of  what 
one  of  the  Philadelphia  papers*  properly  described  as  the 
"haughty,  and  defiant,"  and  unfeeling  tone  of  this  report. 
It  supplies  another  illustration  of  the  sinister  effect  produced 
upon  men  by  consolidating  them  in  a  society  or  corporation. 
Many  a  corporation  has  done  things  which  its  members 
would  no  more  have  done  as  individuals,  than  they  would 
have  turned  highwaymen.  It  might  be  well  for  such  per- 
sons to  consider,  in  some  leisure  moment,  how  the  moral  re- 
sponsibility of  these  transactions  is  to  be  apportioned  here- 
after^ as  between  the  individual  and  the  corporator. 

In  their  anxiety  to  shun  all  concessions  which  might  be 
used  against  them  in  a  judicial  process,  the  framers  of  this 
report  have  lapsed  into  some  very  unguarded  statements  as 
to  matters  of  fact.     A  specimen  or  two  will  suffice. 

They  allege  that,  just  before  the  train  started  from  Camden, 
their  agent  examined  the  bell-rope,  and  "found  it  right." 
Henry  Sherwood,  a  switch-tender,  in  their  employ,  testifies 
that  one  of  the  brake-men  told  him  that,  seeing  some  cows 
on  the  road  as  they  were  backing,  he  wished  to  ring  the  bell, 
but  "  the  hell-rope  was  not  long  enough  to  reach  over  to  where 
he  was  standing,  on  the  rear  platform  of  the  hind  car."  He 
"  started  to  go  front,  and,  before  he  got  back,  the  horses  were 
struck." 

Again,  the  report  says:  "It  does  appear  to  your  committee, 
that  in  all  particulars,  the  Icm  of  the  State,  and  the  regulations 
of  the  Company,  were  fully  complied  with  by  these  agents 

*  The  Pennsylvania  Inquirer. 


41 

and  employees  having  charge  of  the  trains  on  the  29th  of 
August.  The  coroner's  jury,  it  is  true,  say  that  the  engineer 
did  not  observe  the  rules  and  the  law  respecting  blowing  the 
whistle.  But  they  must  have  rejected  the  testimon}''  of  the 
following  witnesses."  (Here  follow  the  names  of  fourteen 
persons.)  The  law  of  New  Jersey,  bearing  on  this  point,  is 
in  the  following  words  : — 

'*  And  such  bell  shall  be  Icept  ringing^  or  such  steam- 
whistle  shall  continue  to  he  blown,  until  the  engine  has  crossed 
such  turnpike  or  highway,  or  has  stopped." 

I  have  re-examined  the  testimony  of  twelve  of  these  four- 
teen witnesses  (that  of  the  two  others  is  not  within  my  reach), 
and  there  is  not  one  of  them,  from  the  engineer  down,  who 
testifies  that  the  whistle  was  blown  continuously  until  the  train 
reached  the  crossing.  Several  of  them,  on  the  contrary,  on 
being  asked  this  question,  categorically,  testified  that  it  teas 
not.  Various  other  witnesses,  who  were  on  the  train,  or  in 
the  adjacent  fields,  bear  the  same  testimony.  A  single  wit- 
ness among  the  "  fourteen,"  it  is  true,  does  state  that  the  col- 
lision occurred  "  immediately  after"  he  heard  the  whistle ; 
but,  on  being  asked  subsequently :  "  How  long  after  you 
heard  the  whistle  did  the  collision  take  place  ?"  he  replied  : 
"  I  cannot  exactly  state ;  it  was  a  very  short  time,  however  ; 
it  loas  7iot  many  minutes" 

These  two  instances  may  illustrate  the  real  value  of  this 
report.  It  is  as  unfortunate  in  its  history  and  logic  as  it  is 
revolting  in  its  frigid,  legal  impassibility.  By  indorsing  all 
the  acts  of  all  their  agents  concerned  in  the  disaster,  the 
Directors  virtually  assume  their  responsibilities,  and  shut  out 
the  collateral  issues,  which  might  otherwise  have  been  raised 
as  between  injured  parties  and  their  subordinates.  With  the 
judicial  bearings  of  this  wholesale  justification  of  their  ser- 
vants, I  am  not  concerned.  But  there  is  one  statement  made 
by  them,  of  too  grave  an  import  to  be  passed  over. 

It  deserves  especial  notice,  then,  that  they  express  their 
approval  of  the  "speed"  of  the  train,  as  ^^ usual  and  lawfuV 
That  this  speed  was,  as  they  assert,  "  about  fifteen  miles  an 


42 

hour,"  will  be  credited  by  few  persons  who  read  the  testi- 
mony before  the  coroner's  jury,  and  note  the  involuntary 
exclamations  of  Mr.  Gillespie  and  other  passengers,  at  the 
moment  of  the  collision ;  and  by  still  fewer  who  look  at  the 
results.  On  this  point,  the  hint  thrown  out  by  Mr.  Wolcott, 
the  intelligent  Road-Master  on  the  "  Great  Western  Railroad 
of  Illinois,"  who  was  one  of  the  passengers,  is  very  signi- 
ficant:— 

"  I  had  an  impression  about  the  speed ;  but  the  kesult 
will  determine  the  speed.^^ 

What  was  the  "  result"  ?  Several  large  cars  so  crushed 
and  shivered  into  fragments,  that  a  bystander  declared,  that 
"  except  the  roofs  of  the  broken  cars,  there  was  no  part  of 
them  so  large  that  he  could  not  have  carried  it  off  on  his  shoulder.^^ 
Now,  it  is  of  no  special  moment  to  decide  whether  the  speed 
was,  as  the  Directors  say,  fifteen,  or,  as  the  engineer  of  the 
New  York  train  testifies,  "about  twenty,"  or,  as  the  public 
seem  to  believe,  thirty  miles  an  hour.  A  retrograde  train, 
let  it  be  remembered,  with  its  couplings  loose,  no  attachment 
in  the  rear  to  remove  obstructions,  and,  if  thrown  from  the 
track  (which  it  may  be,  even  by  a  pebble),  the  weight  and 
force  of  the  engine  applied,  as  on  the  late  occasion,  to  drive 
the  cars  upon  and  through  one  another — such  a  train  is  well- 
nigh  helpless — as  the  passengers  individually  are,  from  their 
reversed  position,  in  case  of  accident.  Yet,  the  Directors  of 
this  Company  have  deliberately  announced  to  the  world,  what 
it  behooves  every  one  proposing  to  travel  on  their  roads  to 
understand,  that  "it  is  usual  and  lawful"  for  their  engineers 
to  back  trains  in  this  defenceless  condition,  at  a  rate  which,  in 
the  event  of  a  collision,  onay  grind  the  cars  into  kindling  wood! 

This  is  their  scale  of  prudence  ;  and  this  their  estimate  of 
the  responsibility  which  attaches  to  them,  as  the  carriers  of 
some  hundreds  of  thousands  of  valuable  lives  annually  ! 

Is  it  not  horrible  that  we  should  be  obliged  to  confide  our- 
selves, and  our  wives  and  children,  to  such  a  guardianship 
as  this  ?  Can  nothing  be  done  to  effect  a  change  ?  Are  the 
people  of  New  Jersey  so  powerless,  so  regardless  of  the  duties 


43 

they  owe  to  the  citizens  of  the  other  States,  or  so  wanting, 
even  in  common  humanity,  that  they  will  neither  require  the 
existing  Company  to  construct  a  safe  road  across  their  soil, 
nor  permit  any  one  else  to  do  it  ? 

But  I  forbear.  Again  and  again,  God  has  spoken  by  His 
providence  on  this  subject,  with  a  solemnity  and  a  pathos 
sufficient,  it  might  seem,  to  reach  every  heart.  If  this  last 
and  most  fearful  utterance  is  not  heeded,  we  may  well  despair 
of  seeing  these  great  evils  redressed. 


^ 

>■ 


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'eiA±.i^^^^Yu, 


y.i:,..  • 


■ 


\ 


JUST    PUBLISHED 


BY 


dk^  3Vtc 

(Successors  to  A.  HART,  late  CAREY  &  HART,) 

S.  E.  cor.  Fourth  and  Chestnut  Streets,  Philadelphia, 

QUESNEL  OK  THE  GOSPELS. 

THE  GOSPELS,  with  Moral  lleflections  on  each  verse.  By  Pasquier 
QuESNEL.  With  an  introductory  Essay,  by  the  llev.  Daniel  Wilson, 
A.  M.,  Vicar  of  Islington  (now  Bishop  of  Calcutta).  Carefully  revised 
by  the  llev.  Henry  A.  Boardman,  T>.  D.  Printed  with  bold  type,  on 
beautifully  tinted  and  sized  paper.     2  vols.  8vo.    $4  00. 

"We  have  no  work  of  the  same  kind;  Ave  have  nothing  in  practical  divinity  so 
sweet,  so  spiritual,  so  interior  as  to  the  real  life  of  grace — so  rich,  so  copious,  so 
original.  Vic  have  nothing  that  extols  the  grace  of  God,  and  abases  and  lowers 
man  so  entirely.  We  lessen  not  the  value  of  our  various  admirable  comments  on 
the  New  Testament;  they  have  each  their  particular  excellencies.  But  none  of 
them  supersedes  Quesnel;  none  can  supply  that  thorough  insight  into  the  world, 
the  evil  of  sin,  the  life  of  faith  and  prayer,  which  he  possesses." — Bishop  Wilson. 

"A  repository  of  original,  striking,  spiritual  Meditations,  the  absence  of  which 
could  be  supplied  by  no  other  work  in  our  language." — Dr.  Boardman. 

"The  autlior  of  this  work  was  a  French  Catholic  Divine,  who  flourished  in  the 
latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  and  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century.  He 
gave  offence  to  the  Court  of  Rome,  by  an  edition  of  the  works  of  Pope  Leo  the 
Great,  which  he  published  in  1G74;  but  the  production  that  excited  the  greatest 
animosity  against  him,  is  that  which  is  here  reproduced  (with  many  omissions  and 
corrections  indeed),  under  the  sanction  of  two  eminent  men ;  the  one  an  Episcopa- 
lian, the  other  a  Presbyterian.  No  less  than  a  hundred  and  one  propositions  were 
extracted  from  the  work,  which  were  condemned  by  the  Pope's  Bull,  as  involving 
a  departure  from  Roman  Catholic  Orthodoxy.  As  the  work  now  stands,  little  or 
nothing  will  be  found  in  it  to  which  Evangelical  Protestants  will  not  render  a  cordial 
assent,  and  it  is  confessedly  one  of  the  richest  treasuries  of  practical  and  spiritual 
thought  connected  with  this  portion  of  Scripture,  to  be  found  in  any  language." — 
Puritan  Recorder. 

"Eminent  authorities  have  pronounced  these  reflections  the  best  practical  com- 
mentary oa  the  Evangelists  extant.  *  *  *  We  doubt  not  that  ministers  and  private 
Christians  will  find  the  volumes  to  be  a  storehouse  of  spii-itual  treasures." — N.  Y. 
Observer. 

"The  readers  of  Henry  and  Scott's  Commentaries  will  recollect  how  frequently 
those  eminent  expositors  rely  on  Quesnel;  and  those  who  have  been  able  to  consult 
the  latter  author  himself,  will  join  in  wondering  that  a  writer  so  remarkable  for 
Evangelical  spirit,  for  simplicity  of  style,  and  for  weight  of  character,  should  not 
have  heretofore  been  accessible  to  the  American  Church." — Episcopal  Recorder. 

"We  can  commend  the  work  as  spiritual,  rich,  copious,  original,  and  abounding 
in  earnest  and  frequent  applications  of  Scripture  truth,  to  the  inward  expei'ience 
and  practical  life  of  the  believer." — Fresbi/ferian. 

"In  editing  this  work,  Dr.  Boardman  has  mainly  confined  his  labors  to  the  re- 
moval of  any  sentiments  which  may  have  escaped  the  notice  of  former  editors,  and 
which  might  be  found  inconsistent  with  a  harmonious  system  of  theological  and 
scriptural  truth,  lie  has  executed  his  task  with  much  care  and  faithfulaess." — 
Pros.  Banner. 

j^^^'The  book  will  be  sent  by  mail  (prepaid),  to  any  part  of  the 
country,  on  receipt  of  the  price  appended. 


'"'•^ 


!!!• 


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